~ 0^ 7.  9 
(^774^ 


[Rt printed  from  the  Library  Journal,  November,  1919] 


A PLAN  FOR  A NATURE  LIBRARY 


By  C.  Edward  Graves,  Librarian, 

Nature  literature,  meaning  in  a general 
way  by  that  term  what  Mr.  Theodore 
Roosevelt  has  described  as  “the  literature 
of  appreciative  love  of  nature  and  of  hardy 
out-of-door  life”  is  a class  of  literature 
whose  resources  have  been  thoroly  ex- 
plored by  only  a few  favored  initiates.  In 
fact,  only  within  recent  years  has  there 
been  developed  any  consciousness  of  the 
existence  of  a clearly-defined  class  of  this 
kind  of  literature.  Judging  from  the  widely 
different  types  of  books  that  critics  care- 
lessly label  with  this  convenient  catchword 
of  classification,  there  is  still  much  vague- 
ness of  popular  idea  in  regard  to  it.  It  is 
true,  however,  that  one  of  the  notable  lit- 
erary movements  of  the  last  half-century 
has  been  the  gradual  evolution  of  a dis- 
tinct type  of  writing  which  for  want  of  a 
more  specific  name  must  be  called  “nature 
literature,”  having  for  its  principal  theme 
the  beauty  and  attractiveness  of  the  natural 
world,  as  distinguished  from  the  human. 
Gilbert  White  was  the  isolated  forerunner 
of  this  movement,  Thoreau  and  Jefferies 
the  actual  originators,  and  John  Muir,  John 
Burroughs  and  William  Henry  Hudson  the 
leading  spirits  in  its  modern  development. 
A host  of  other  writers  are  now  following  in 
the  footsteps  of  these  leaders  and  the  cres- 
cendo of  this  movement  is  bound  to  take 
rank  along  with  the  modern  renaissance  of 
poetry  as  one  of  the  distinguishing  fea- 
tures of  twentieth  century  literature. 

The  movement  has  reached  its  highest 
development  in  the  English-speaking  coun- 
tries, especially  in  the  United  States,  where 
the  gradual  opening  up  of  the  wonderlands 
of  our  national  parks  has  been  a great  stim- 
ulus to  interest  in  nature  subjects.  It  is  there- 
fore most  appropriate  that  the  establishment 
of  the  first  institution  designed  to  embody 
the  spirit  of  this  movement  should  take  place 
in  America.  Moreover,  on  account  of  the 
rapid  industrial  development  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  alarming  cityward  trend  of 
population,  there  is  a great  need  of  en- 


Minnesota  Historical  Society 

couraging  any  tendency  toward  an  interest 
in  subjects  that  will  take  people  away 
somewhat  from  the  nerve-racking  turmoil 
and  deadening  conventionalities  of  city  life 
to  the  restfulness  and  refreshment  of  the 
quiet  spaces  of  nature.  Even  the  country 
dweller,  tho  living  in  close  and  con- 
stant contact  with  the  wonders  and  beauty 
of  the  fields  and  forests,  needs  to  be  stim- 
ulated to  an  active  study  and  contemplation 
of  the  natural  phenomena  around  him,  if 
he  is  to  avoid  being  overcome  by  a sense 
of  monotony  with  a consequent  mental 
lethargy.  Believing  that  a better  acquaint- 
ance with  and  appreciation  of  nature  liter- 
ature with  its  gospel  of  peace  and  beauty 
and  wholesome  out-of-door  activity  will  do 
much  to  remedy  the  situation,  the  writer 
has  conceived  and  worked  out  a plan  for 
an  institution,  that  he  has  called  for  want  of 
a more  specific  name  a “nature  library.”  It 
is  in  reality  much  more  than  a library,  as 
will  appear  from  the  following  description, 
tho  the  library  is  the  nucleus  of  the 
institution. 

The  idea  is  that  it  shall  be  a reference 
library  of  nature  literature  in  its  widest 
sense:  the  writer  has  satisfied  himself  after 
many  years  of  study  and  observation,  that 
there  is  enough  of  this  kind  of  literature 
in  existence,  if  a certain  amount  of  the 
technical  and  scientific  literature  of  the  dif- 
ferent branches  of  nature  study  is  included, 
to  fill  a good-sized  library,  and  no  doubt  it 
will  be  turned  out  in  ever-increasing  quanti- 
ties during  the  coming  century.  The  dis- 
tinguishing feature  about  it  is  that  it  shall 
be  located,  not  in  a city  where  it  would 
be  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  its  sur- 
roundings, but  in  a rural  setting  in  the 
midst  of  beautiful  natural  scenery  which 
would  be  altogether  appropriate  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  institution.  If  possible,  the 
grounds  should  be  extensive  and  of  varied 
topographical  character.  They  should  be 
left  in  their  natural  state  in  so  far  as  prac- 
tical, with  very  few  artificial  improvements 


\ 


2 


except  the  construction  of  the  necessary 
walks  and  driveways.  As  an  illustration  of 
the  practical  advantages  of  an  acquaintance 
with  nature  literature  different  species  of 
our  native  wild  flora  might  be  planted  and 
encouraged  in  suitable  locations  throughout 
the  grounds,  nesting  sites  and  other  ar- 
rangements for  attracting  the  birds  might 
be  made,  non-destructive  forms  of  animal 
life  might  be  encouraged,  and  other  activi- 
ties engaged  in  with  the  same  end  in  view. 

In  order  to  have  a maximum  of  useful- 
ness, the  institution  should  be  located  not 
very  far  from  a large  center  of  population 
in  a portion  of  the  country  served  by  good 
roads,  and  the  winter  climate  should  not  be 
so  severe  as  to  discourage  the  use  of  the 
institution  during  that*season  of  the  year. 
However,  the  greatest  amount  of  good  ac- 
complished would  be  not  thru  a large 
popular  attendance,  but  thru  publicity  work, 
strengthened  by  the  appeal  to  the  papular 
imagination  that  the  uniqueness  of  the  plan 
would  make.  There  are  in  this  country  a 
great  many  organizations  whose  interests 
center  primarily  in  a love  of  nature,  though 
often  in  a specialized  form,  such  as  moun- 
taineering clubs,  Audubon  clubs,  botanical 
clubs  and  so  forth.  There  are  many  other 
people,  not  members  of  any  of  these  or- 
ganizations who  have  just  as  sincere  a love 
for  nature  but  who  have  no  rallying-point 
for  their  interests.  Such  an  institution 
would  co-ordinate  and  focus  this  sentiment 
from  all  over  the  country,  and  would  thus 
be  in  a position  to  exert  a powerful  influ- 
ence in  awakening  the  interest  of  the  gen- 
eral public  in  nature  subjects.  A monthly 
or  weekly  bulletin  might  be  the  best  organ 
for  this  publicity  and  educational  work  at 
first,  and  later,  if  successful,  it  could  be 
converted  into  a magazine  that  would  do  for 
nature-lovers  and  writers  of  nature  litera- 
ture what  the  Bookman  is  doing  for  book- 
lovers  and  the  literary  people  in  general. 

The  present  time  is  peculiarly  opportune 
for  the  establishment  of  such  an  institution. 
The  coming  century  is  bound  to  witness  the 
development  of  a greater  interest  in  all 
things  relating  to  nature.  For  one  thing. 
The  natural  reaction  from  the  intensified 


emotions  brought  out  by  the  long-continued 
period  of  warfare  will  inevitably  tend  to 
lead  people’s  thoughts  back  toward  the 
peace  and  simplicity  of  nature.  For  an- 
other thing,  many  of  our  returning  soldiers, 
formerly  addicted  to  habits  of  indoor 
amusement  and  recreation,  will  no  doubt 
be  attracted  more  and  more  to  the  out-of- 
door  life  that  they  have  learned  to  enjoy 
in  their  training  and  campaigning  exper- 
iences. These  returning  soldiers  are  very 
aptly  described  by  Mr.  Archie  Austin 
Coates  in  a recent  poem  as  “Men  coming 
back  to  their  desks,  but  nevermore  blind 
to  the  stars  ...”  The  result  will  be  not 
merely  an  increased  interest  in  the  more 
formal  out-of-door  sports,  such  as  base- 
ball, tennis  and  so  forth,  but  more  tramp- 
ing and  camping  in  the  fields,  forests  and 
mountains.  An  intelligent  direction  of  this 
newly-found  interest  will  help  to  insure  the 
permanency  of  its  good  results,  and  this 
proposed  institution  would  be  the  rallying- 
point,  a kind  of  mother-institution,  for  this 
work  all  over  the  country.  In  doing  this 
work,  it  would  be  distinctly  entitled  to  a 
claim  as  an  active  reconstructive  agency, 
thus  being  thoroughly  in  accord  with  the 
spirit  of  the  times. 

Another  great  service  that  this  library 
could  render  would  be  the  compiling  of 
bibliographies  and  indexes  to  make  better 
available  the  vast  mass  of  this  literature 
at  present  hidden  away  in  unknown  and 
almost  inaccessible  nooks  and  corners  of 
libraries  and  bookshops.  Because  the  ex- 
istence of  a distinctive  class  of  nature  lit- 
erature has  not  in  the  past  been  recognized 
by  librarians  and  literary  critics,  it  has 
never  been  adequately  indexed  or  cata- 
logued. Gathering  it  together  under  one 
roof  will  afford  a fine  opportunity  for  this 
work  which  should  be  of  inestimable  benefit 
to  authors  and  investigators. 

The  possible  adaptions  and  developments 
of  the  plan  are  theoretically  almost  un- 
limited, and  practically  would  be  limited 
only  by  the  size  of  the  endowment  fund. 
Special  departments  might  be  established, 
such,  for  instance,  as  a department  of  land- 
scape art,  which  would  include  out-of-door 


3 


photography,  especially  nature  photography, 
painting,  and  landscape  architecture  of  the 
natural  or  informal  school.  The  library 
would  be  the  nucleus  and  center  of  all  this 
work,  but  courses  of  lectures  and  instruc- 
tion in  the  field  by  experts  might  well  be 
offered  as  an  additional  attraction.  These 
could  be  short  intensive  courses,  on  the 
same  principle  as  the  summer  Chautauqua 
plan.  Expert  instructors  and  students 
would  probably  be  glad  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  offered  to  make  use  of 
the  library  and  out-of-door  laboratory  for 
field  work,  while  at  the  same  time  enjoy- 
ing a vacation  from  their  regular  routine. 
This  idea  has  already  been  worked  out  on 
a small  scale  by  the  National  Association 
of  Audubon  Societies  at  their  School  for 
Applied  Ornithology  at  Amston,  Connecti- 
cut, where  three  short  courses  on  bird 
study  and  field  ornithology,  applied  orni- 
thology and  nature  photography  were 
given  for  the  first  time  last  summer.  The 
extensive  application  of  the  idea  by  an 
institution  embracing  all  the  different 
branches  of  nature  study  would  be  a great 
and  unique  undertaking. 

The  prospectus  of  the  plan  as  described 
above  was  recently  mailed  out  to  many 
prominent  nature  writers  and  nature  lovers 
all  over  the  country  in  an  effort  to  crys- 
tallize sentiment  on  the  subject.  The  re- 
plies were  almost  without  exception  en- 
thusiastic in  their  approval  of  the  idea. 
Among  others,  Walter  Prichard  Eaton, 
Gene  Stratton-Porter  and  Enos  Mills  have 
taken  an  especially  helpful  interest  in  the 
plan.  A list  of  the  more  prominent  people 
who  have  written  strong  letters  of  approval 
would  include  such  well-known  authors  as 
Stewart  Edward  White,  Dallas  Lore  Sharp, 
Ray  Stannard  Baker  (David  Grayson, 
pseud.)  Major  A.  Radclyffe  Dugmore  and 
Herbert  K.  Job,  two  of  the  best  known  na- 
ture photographers  in  the  world ; T.  Gilbert 
Pearson,  Secretary  of  the  National  Associ- 
ation of  Audubon  Societies;  E.  W.  For- 
bush,  Massachusetts  State  Ornithologist ; 
Stephen  T.  Mather,  Director  of  the  United 
States  National  Park  Service;  Prof.  Lib- 
erty Hyde  Bailey;  P.  S.  Ridsdale,  Editor  of 


American  Forestry ; Jens  Jensen  of  Chi- 
cago, and  William  Tyler  (Wilhelm)  Miller 
of  Detroit,  two  of  the  leading  landscape 
gardeners  of  the  country;  Dr.  D.  T.  Mac 
Dougal,  Director  of  the  Desert  Laboratory 
of  the  Carnegie  Institution;  Dr.  C.  Hart 
Merriam,  the  well-known  scientist  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  and  many  other 
prominent  people. 

This  result  was  not  altogether  unex- 
pected, since  the  plan  is  one  that  appeals 
especially  to  people  who  are  thoroughly  in- 
terested in  nature  and  out-of-doors  subjects. 
Librarians,  however,  and  even  the  nature 
lovers  among  them,  have  a rather  differ- 
ent viewpoint,  and  the  author  of  the  plan 
would  very  much  like  to  receive  criti- 
cism from  any  of  them  who  are  interested. 
The  question  of  financing  the  enterprise  is 
one  that  will  eventually  have  to  be  dealt 
with,  but  if  the  idea  is  generally  conceded 
to  be  a sufficiently  worthy  one,  that  is,  if 
the  amount  of  good  to  be  accomplished  is 
sufficient  to  justify  any  expenditure  in- 
volved, financial  means  will  surely  be  found 
sooner  or  later.  The  principal  points  at 
issue,  therefore,  at  the  present  time,  are 
theoretical  and  technical  in  nature  rather 
than  practical.  For  instance,  one  promi- 
nent librarian  makes  the  following  criti- 
cism: “The  tendency  of  modern  libraries, 
it  seems  to  me,  is  towards  consolidation 
and  against  the  creation  of  libraries  for 
special  purposes  unless  there  is  some  over- 
whelming reason  for  them.  I should  even 
go  so  far  as  to  say  that  in  every  large 
city,  all  collections  of  books  should  be  con- 
centrated in  one  spot.  The  value  of  each 
book  to  the  public  is  multiplied  many  fold 
simply  because  of  its  proximity  to  other 
books.  For  this  reason,  altho  I strongly 
approve  the  making  of  such  a large  collec- 
tion of  nature  books  as  you  suggest,  it 
ought,  I think,  to  be  made  by  some  large 
public  library  and  housed  in  the  central 
building  of  this  library.”  The  answer  to 
this  criticism  is  that  the  value  of  nature 
books  would  be  multiplied  many  fold  be- 
cause of  their  proximity  to  the  differ- 
ent forms  of  nature  described  in  the  books. 
In  other  words,  an  out-of-door  laboratory 


is  needed  where  the  practical  can  be  joined 
up  with  the  theoretical  and  the  visible  with 
the  imaginative,  and  where  the  institution 
can  acquire  an  individuality  that  would  be 
denied  if  its  book  collections  were  merged 
with  collections  of  books  of  fiction,  lan- 
guages, engineering,  medicine  and  other 
equally  foreign  subjects. 

This  argument,  however,  is  not  intended 
to  discourage  the  formation  of  such  collec- 
tions by  public  libraries.  In  fact,  it  is  even 
possible  that  the  institution  in  some  modi- 


fied form  might  be  established  as  a branch 
of  a public  library  in  an  appropriate  subur- 
ban or  park  location.  Thus  located,  it 
would  make  an  excellent  Roosevelt  Memor- 
ial; the  Greater  Chicago  Roosevelt  Me- 
morial Association  recently  gave  serious 
consideration  to  such  a plan.  The  love  of 
nature  is  one  of  the  most  healthful  influ- 
ences in  our  modern  civilzation,  and  public 
libraries  can  accomplish  much  good  by  em- 
phasizing in  every  way  possible  books  that 
encourage  the  growth  of  this  feeling. 


